THE VON NEUMANN COMPUTER

This model of the typical digital computer is often called the Von Neumann computer.
Primary Memory

Input Units

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

Output Units

What is an input device? Hardware used to enter data and instructions.

What is an output device? Hardware that conveys information to a user.

WHAT IS A COMPUTER?

An electronic device that stores, retrieves, and processes data, and can be programmed with instructions It is a device capable of performing computations and making logical decisions Computers process data under the control of sets of instructions called computer programs A computer is composed of hardware and software, and can exist in a variety of sizes and configurations.

THE PERSONAL COMPUTER

A personal computer is made up of multiple physical components of computer hardware, upon which can be installed an operating system and a multitude of software to perform the operator's desired functions.

HARDWARE & SOFTWARE

The term hardware refers to the physical components of your computer such as the system unit, mouse, keyboard, monitor etc. The software is the instructions that makes the computer work. Software is held either on your computers hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD or on a diskette (floppy disk) and is loaded (i.e. copied) from the disk into the computers RAM (Random Access Memory), as and when required.

HOW COMPUTER MEMORY IS MEASURED

Bit
All computers work on a binary numbering system, i.e. they process data in one's or zero's. This 1 or 0 level of storage is called a bit.

Byte
A byte consists of eight bits.

Kilobyte
A kilobyte (KB) consists of 1024 bytes.

Megabyte
A megabyte (MB) consists of 1024 kilobytes.

Gigabyte
A gigabyte (GB) consists of 1024 megabytes.

Terabyte
A gigabyte (GB) consists of 1024 gigabytes.

HOW COMPUTER MEMORY IS MEASURED

Petabyte
1,048,576 gigabytes Exabyte 1,073,741,824 gigabytes Zettabyte 1,099,511,627,776 gigabytes

MAIN PARTS OF A COMPUTER

Microprocessors -- "The brain of the computer

PCs primarily use microprocessors (sometimes called the chip). The older Intel versions include the 386, 486 ,Pentium line and now icore. AMD sempron, athlon, phenom, fx,

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is normally an Intel or AMD (or equivalent) and it is one of the most important components within your computer.
It determines how fast your computer will run and is measured by its MHz speed. Thus a 600 MHz Pentium is much faster than say a 400

MHz Pentium CPU.

It is the CPU that performs all the calculations within the computer.

MAIN PARTS OF A COMPUTER

The Central Processing Unit ( CPU)

Often referred to as the brain of the computer. Responsible for controlling all activities of the computer system. The three major components of the CPU are:
1. Arithmetic Unit (Computations performed) Accumulator (Results of computations kept here) 2. Control Unit (Has two locations where numbers are kept) Instruction Register (Instruction placed here for analysis)

Program Counter (Which instruction will be performed next?)

3. Instruction Decoding Unit (Decodes the instruction)

Motherboard: The place where most of the electronics including the CPU are mounted.

MAIN PARTS OF A COMPUTER

Memory -- "How the processor stores and uses immediate data Primary storage or memory is where the data and program that are currently in operation or being accessed are stored during use. It consists of electronic circuits; extremely fast and expensive.

MAIN PARTS OF A COMPUTER

RAM Random Access Memory (Volatile)

The main 'working' memory used by the computer. When the operating system loads from disk when you first switch on the computer, it is copied into RAM. As a rough rule, a Microsoft Windows based computer will operate faster if you install more RAM. Data and programs stored in RAM are volatile (i.e. the information is lost when you switch off the computer).

ROM Read Only Memory (Non-Volatile)

Read Only Memory (ROM) as the name suggests is a special type of memory chip that holds software that can be read but not written to. A good example is the ROM-BIOS chip, which contains read-only software. Often network cards and video cards also contain ROM chips.

Main Parts of a Computer

Secondary storage or memory;

Long-term, non-changeable

Magnetic Disk

Hard disks Floppy disks Magnetic Tape

CD-ROM (just readable or readable and writeable - CD-R/CD-RW) DVD (same as CD-ROM)

Optical Disk

Storage Area Networks

THE FACTORS THAT IMPACT A COMPUTER'S PERFORMANCE CPU speed

RAM size Speed and capacity

CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT AND PRIMARY MEMORY*

MICROPROCESSORS

A CPU placed on a single miniature chip; basis of PC (personal computer) Speed and performance factors number of bits the computer can process at one time (word length) Speed of the Clock Number of bits that can be moved at one time between the CPU, primary storage & other devices (Data Bus width )

MICROPROCESSOR EXAMPLES

Name

Manufacturer

Word Length

Clock Speed

Data Bus

Pentium 2
Celeron

Intel
Intel

32
32 32 32 64 64

233-450 MHz* 64
500-2600 MHz 64 500-1400 MHz 64 3.2 GHz* 1.5 GHz 2.6 Ghz 64 128 128

Pentium III Intel Pentium IV Intel Itanium II Opteron Intel AMD

MHz = millions of Hertz (measure of speed) GHz = billions of Hertz

SEQUENTIAL AND PARALLEL PROCESSING

1. INPUT- sends data to the main memory 2. PROCESSOR- processes or manipulates data into information. This is done through the CPU- Central Processing Unit- this is made up of the control unit & arithmetic/logic unit. 3. MEMORY- electronic components that temporarily store instructions waiting to be executed by the processor. 4. OUTPUT- displays or present information- is made up of printers & display panels. 5. STORAGE- stores the information for future use when not being used in the memory. 6. COMMUNICATION DEVICES- a hardware component that enables a computer to send (transmit) & receive data, instructions, & information to & from one or more computers. ex: telephone lines, cables, cellular radio networks, & satellites. Some media is wireless- no physical lines or wires needed.

INPUT DEVICES

The Mouse: Used to drive Microsoft Windows The Keyboard: The keyboard is still the commonest way of entering information into a computer Scanners: A scanner allows you to scan printed material and convert it into a file format that may be used within the PC Touch Pads: A device that lays on the desktop and responds to pressure Light Pens: Used to allow users to point to areas on a screen Joysticks: Many games require a joystick for the proper playing of the game

INPUT DEVICES

Readers (Bar code reader; Magnetic Ink Character Recognition device) Other examples: Voice recognition hardware Digital camera

OUTPUT DEVICES

Printers: There are many different types of printers. In large organizations laser printers are most commonly used due to the fact that they can print very fast and give a very high quality output. Plotters: A plotter is an output device similar to a printer, but normally allows you to print larger images. Speakers: Enhances the value of educational and presentation products. Speech synthesisers : Gives you the ability to not only to display text on a monitor but also to read the text to you

STORAGE DEVICES

Hard Disks/ Solid State Drives Speed:

Very fast!
The speed of a hard disk is often quoted as "average access time speed, measured in milliseconds. The smaller this number the faster the disk. Capacity: Enormous! Often 2 terabytes. A terabyte is equivalent to 1024 Gigabytes. Cost:

Hard disks costs are falling rapidly and normally represent the cheapest way of storing data.

STORAGE DEVICES

Diskettes (Floppy Disks) Speed: Very slow! Capacity: Normally 1.44 Mbytes. Cost: Very cheap.

STORAGE DEVICES

CD-ROM Disks Speed: Much slower than hard disks. The original CD-ROM speciation is given a value of 1x speed, and later, faster CD-ROMs are quoted as a multiple of this value. Capacity:

Around 650 Mbytes and more. Cost:

cheap

STORAGE DEVICES

DVD Drives Speed: Much faster than CD-ROM drives but not as fast as hard disks. Capacity: Up to 17 Gbytes. Cost: cheap

THE FOUR MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF STORAGE DEVICES:

Speed and access time

Cost / Removable versus non-removable

Capacity Type of access

TYPES OF MEMORY ACCESS

Sequential - Obtained by proceeding through the storage medium from the beginning until the designated area is reached (as in magnetic tape). Random Access - Direct access (as in floppy and hard disks).

CONNECTING HARDWARE TO THE COMPUTER:

Hardware needs access through some general input/output connection.
Port: The pathway for data to go into and out of the computer from external devices such as keyboards.
Serial port: sends one bit at a time (115 Kbps) Parallel port: sends 8 bits at a time Firewire: a high speed connection (400 Mbps) USB (universal serial bus): a high speed connection (11 Mbps) Wireless: no cable, generally slower

CONNECTING HARDWARE TO THE COMPUTER (CONT.)

Peripheral device: A piece of hardware like a printer or disk drive, that is outside the main computer. Hardware needs software on the computer that can service the device. Device driver: Software addition to the operating system that will allow the computer to communicate with a particular device.